Online Learning Policies and Regulations

State Authorization for Online Learning

Berkshire Community College participates in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). SARA is an agreement among member states, districts, and territories of the United States (see member directory). It establishes national standards for the interstate offering of distance education courses and programs. It simplifies the process of taking online classes at an institution of higher education based in another state.

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) is one of four regional education compacts and is the compact for the Northeast region. In 2018, NEBHE approved the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's application to become a member state in SARA. As the SARA portal entity for Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) administers SARA for institutions located in Massachusetts. In addition to the oversight provided locally by DHE and regionally by NEBHE, a national council (NC-SARA) also oversees SARA and the regional compacts.

Berkshire Community College (BCC) has received approval from DHE to participate in SARA. At this time, only California is not a member state. If you reside in California and are interested in taking an online class at BCC, please contact Admissions.

Complaints

BCC is required to provide current and prospective online learning students with contact information for filing complaints. Students who desire to resolve a grievance should follow the College's Student Grievance Procedure as outlined in the BCC Student Policy Guide.

If your complaint has not been resolved, after you have exhausted the complaint procedures made available by Berkshire Community College via the BCC Online Learning Complaint Form, please follow one of the processes below depending on your location.

Massachusetts

If you have a complaint or concern that has not been resolved by Berkshire Community College via the BCC Online Learning Complaint Form, you may file a consumer complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) by using the consumer complaint form.

California and Guam

Outside of Massachusetts (excluding California and Guam)

After you have exhausted the complaint procedures made available by Berkshire Community College via the BCC Online Learning Complaint Form, if your complaint has not been resolved, you may file a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) by using the SARA complaint form.

Please note: for SARA complaints, students are explicitly required to exhaust the institution's available complaint procedures before filing a SARA complaint.

The DHE SARA complaint form should be used by students who are located outside of Massachusetts in SARA member states and territories (see member directory). This includes students completing out-of-state learning placements, such as internships, practical, clinical experiences, etc., in SARA member states and territories.

The DHE's SARA complaint website describes the SARA complaint process as follows:

Students must first attempt to resolve their complaint using internal administrative procedures offered by the SARA institution.
After all administrative remedies have been exhausted with the MA-SARA institution, the student may submit a SARA Complaint via the SARA complaint form.
The Department shall send a copy of the complaint to the institution that is the subject of the complaint;
Within 30 days of the date that the Department sends a copy of the complaint to the institution, the institution must provide a written response to the student and the Department.

For more information, see DHE Complaint Policy and Process (PDF).

The SARA portal agency in the student's state of residence will be notified of any complaint filed with the Massachusetts portal agency. The student's home state may assist the Massachusetts portal agency as needed. The complaint resolution by the Massachusetts portal agency is final and cannot be appealed to another state or federal agency or to NC-SARA.

Attendance and Participation in Online Courses

Federal financial aid regulations require that students demonstrate academic participation. To be considered in attendance, you must engage in at least one academically related activity, such as:

Posting in a discussion board

Submitting an assignment or quiz

Contacting the instructor with a course-related question

Simply logging in without participating does not count as attendance. Students who do not complete an academically related activity by the deadline may be reported as non-participating and could lose financial aid eligibility.

Student Verification in Online Learning

Sec. 602.17(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEOA) and New England Commission of Higher Education NECHE accreditation standard 4.48 require institutions that offer credit-bearing online learning courses verify that the student

who registers for an online learning course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and receives academic credit.

According to the HEOA, one or more of the following methods must be used:

An individual secure login and password,
Proctored examinations, and/or
Other technologies or practices that are effective in verifying student identification.

All methods of verifying student identity in online learning must protect the privacy of student information. If any fees associated with the verification of student identity is charged to students, they must be notified of these charges in writing at the time of registration or enrollment.

At BCC, each student is assigned a unique student identification number and password to log in to the MyBCC portal, email, and learning management systems. Multi-factor authentication is required to access these systems. Accounts are for individual use only and are not transferable or to be used by any other individual. Students using BCC systems do so as set forth by the Acceptable Use Policy.

Accessibility

The official learning management system at BCC is Moodle version 4.5. Information about Moodle's efforts to meet accessibility standards is available through their Accessibility documentation. Instructors are responsible for determining the accessibility of resources they use in their courses, including, but not limited to, vendor and OER integrations, courseware, and e-textbooks.

For questions about accessibility options or to report a problem, please contact the Disability Resource Center.